Lin Ruxia felt it was necessary to get some meat ingredients now so that Song Dabao and the others could learn how to handle them. After all, while they were still in the Song household, they could learn from Second Sister-in-law. As for cooking, that wasn’t necessary—she could handle that herself.
After Dabao and the others finished processing the chicken, Lin Ruxia began thinking about how to cook it. Since she didn’t have many additional ingredients, she could only rely on seasonings. In the end, she decided to divide the chicken into three portions: one for soup, one for stir-frying, and one for boiling, along with a vegetable dish.
Although Lin Ruxia tried her best to keep the aroma from being too strong, people in this era were extremely sensitive to the smell of meat. Sure enough, Aunt Li next door still caught a whiff.
“Meat again? And chicken this time? It must be that little vixen surnamed Lin! She just had pork not long ago, and now chicken again—even officials don’t eat this often…” Aunt Li muttered resentfully to herself.
Lin Ruxia knew nothing about this, and even if she did, she would probably just shrug and say, “If I can eat well, so what?”
She only gave one bowl of stir-fried chicken to Second Sister-in-law. Originally, she had planned to give her the leftover scraps from the soup, but then she thought she would still need her help teaching Dabao in the future.
Lin Ruxia felt like she hadn’t eaten chicken in a long time, but after five pieces, she didn’t feel like eating anymore. It might be because her stomach capacity was small. After a small bowl of rice, a small bowl of soup, a few pieces of chicken, and some vegetables, she was already full. The rest was devoured by Father Song, Mother Song, and the children.
She noticed that none of them spat out bones when eating chicken—they chewed everything clean. At first, she saw that Shi Bao wasn’t spitting out bones and was about to remind him, but then she realized no one at the table had any bones left—not even Father and Mother Song. Upon closer observation, she saw that they simply chewed the bones into pieces and swallowed them.
Lin Ruxia decided not to comment for now. Perhaps they ate the bones because they rarely had meat.
After dinner, Dabao came to ask where her medicine was, wanting to help her brew it. He felt a little guilty because he had forgotten about it the previous night, possibly due to too much homework.
Lin Ruxia didn’t want to take the medicine. After drinking the spiritual spring water, she was almost fully recovered—why drink something so bitter? But seeing how anxious Dabao looked, as if she might die if she didn’t take it, she handed it over anyway.
When Dabao brought her the medicine, she said it was too hot and told him to leave it on the desk. Once he left, she quickly poured it into the toilet in her space.
Taking the empty bowl outside, she handed it back to Dabao, who didn’t suspect anything. After bathing, Lin Ruxia hurried back to her room to draw design plans. She planned to design beds, desks, shelves, and other furniture needed for the estate, then have Carpenter Song make them.
She worked on the designs until eight o’clock but got sleepy before finishing, so she went to bed and decided to continue the next day.
The next morning, she got up as usual and prepared breakfast. Suddenly, she remembered that the children had gone to school carrying sacks the day before, so she decided to get some nicer cloth bags from her space.
After breakfast, she gave each of Dabao and the others a shoulder bag in different colors—gray, black, and brown. They were all surprised.
“Mom! Did you make these?” Sanbao asked excitedly.
“Well… you could say that,” she replied vaguely.
The three boys happily carried their bags to school. Xiaobao from Eldest Brother’s family watched them enviously and planned to ask his mother to make one for him.
After they left, Lin Ruxia washed clothes as usual, fed Sibao and the others, and then continued working on her designs. Although she wasn’t very knowledgeable, she referred to books in her space and copied what she found suitable. Fortunately, her drawing skills were decent due to her background in fashion design.
Since Shi Bao, Eleven, and Twelve couldn’t follow Sibao and Wubao, they stayed with Liubao and Qibao instead. Lin Ruxia told them not to cut pig grass and to keep an eye on the younger ones, avoiding dangerous places. The five of them played together, while Jiubao stayed quietly with Babao in the courtyard.
Second Sister-in-law’s entire family had gone to work—even the youngest children. Meanwhile, Xiaowan from Eldest Brother’s family stayed home to take care of the newborn, doing some sewing in her room.
Around nine, Lin Ruxia felt she should visit the estate again to clarify some details. When she arrived, she found the house completely cleaned. The kitchen looked especially empty—only the stove remained, likely because villagers had taken everything else.
That worked out well for her. She noticed a metal water pipe next to the stove. Although it should have been rusty, it had already been cleaned. When she turned it on, the water came out dirty—probably mountain water—so she let it run. The cement floor was intact and clean.
She planned to partition part of the kitchen into a storage room and remove one of the three stoves, leaving only two. She also wanted to build a bathing area there for convenience.
As for the toilet, she planned to convert one room into an indoor restroom. She didn’t want chamber pots in the rooms. As for the outdoor latrine, she would check it later—if it still smelled bad, she would have it demolished.
She also wanted to create modern-style suites, but it wasn’t feasible. Carrying hot water upstairs would be troublesome, though she still preferred living upstairs to avoid the noise below.
After inspecting everything, she checked the latrine again. The bamboo path was now cleaner and brighter, and the foul smell was gone. The latrine had been cleaned, but she still didn’t want to go inside.
After finishing her inspection, she went home to cook. Sibao and the others were already waiting. No matter what, they couldn’t go hungry.
Using wild eggs and vegetables, she made egg and vegetable noodles. After eating, she returned to her room—washing dishes was Sibao’s responsibility now.
She skipped her nap and worked on her designs until 4:30, finally finishing. Then she went to find Carpenter Song.
He usually stayed home due to a limp leg. When she arrived, he was working outside.
“Uncle Carpenter, I’d like you to make some furniture based on my designs,” she said.
“Let me see first,” he replied.
After glancing through the stack of drawings, he said, “I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”
“Alright, I’ll come back then.”
That evening, she bought four fish from the village fish pond so Dabao could learn how to clean fish. The pond supplied fish to the village, especially during the New Year.
She gave one fish to Mother Song, who initially refused, saying Lin Ruxia was wasteful. But after hearing her explanation, she accepted it.
With yesterday’s experience, Dabao handled the fish much better this time under Second Sister-in-law’s guidance. Erbao and Sanbao only watched.
Lin Ruxia made pickled fish, steamed fish, and steamed egg for dinner.
After dinner, Dabao brewed the medicine again. Lin Ruxia helplessly poured it away, slightly regretting letting the children accompany her to the clinic before.
The children had a lot of homework that day. When she came out, she saw Dabao and the others doing homework in the dim light of dusk. In the kitchen, Liubao and Qibao were boiling water.
Lin Ruxia said nothing, simply fetched water for a bath. By the time she finished, it was around 6:30, and the children were still writing by the fading light.